George Soros is ready to invest $1 billion in Ukraine if Western countries help private investment there, and sees a 1 in 3 chance of Greece leaving the euro, the billionaire told Austria's Der Standard.

The EU executive warned on Monday (30 March) that Greece and its creditors had yet to hammer out a new list of reforms despite talks lasting all weekend aimed at staving off bankruptcy and a euro exit.

“We must act now. Our global competitors are not waiting for us,” BusinessEurope president, Emma Marcegaglia, said in an interview with EurActiv at the Invest in Europe conference on Thursday (26 March).

Europe is losing ground globally, as the 28-country bloc seems unable to reverse the trend of declining investment and stalling economic recovery. But EU businesses pledged to be ready to push policymakers to act swiftly, and boost competitiveness and growth.

Athens this week defied the Commission by enacting new social inclusion measures for the homeless. But denying Greek citizens their fundamental right to housing assistance would be a breach of EU law, argue Freek Spinnewijn and Marc Uhry.

Greece risks running out of cash by April 20 unless it secures fresh aid, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters yesterday (24 April), leaving it little time to convince sceptical creditors it is committed to economic reform.